The Control Circuitry

Really all you need for a fusor is an On/Off switch, that can just be your wall socket plug. To spice up my fusor and to give me more control over it I have included many more controls as you can see in the picture above.

Variac - The knob on the left is a variac, if you are planning to by any type of controls for your fusor this is the most important one to get! Without it the fusor will only operate at its default voltage. If your grids are too close together then the power will just arc between the grids instead of creating a fusor effect. It is almost essential for you to have a variac. I must also stress that a light bulb dimmer switch or potentiometer will not work either, it must be an auto transformer!

Big Red Switch - This controls the main power. When the red switch cover is up the user can flip the switch to turn the fusor on, pushing the cover down will also turn off the switch below it. This acts as a safety precaution so nothing can knock the switch on and it can also be quickly turned off. If you just had a variac you would need to turn it all the way down which takes time

Red Switch - This turns the pump on.

Green Switch - This turns on the voltage screen.

Voltage Screen - This easily indicates to me the exact voltage going into the NST (Not the fusor as the screens can not handle 6KV !) The variac panel only gives me a percentage of the total power.

Second Green Switch - This turns on the amperage screen.

Amperage Screen - This easily indicates to me the exact amperage going into the NST (Not the fusor as the screens can not handle 6KV !) The variac panel only gives me a percentage of the total power.

Here all of the controls are activated. Note that the two red switches light up but I just not hooked them up to any power yet. Also, when the fusor is done I will add lables to all of the controls.

Next: The Pump